Philosophy Statement Paper:

Saxon Swantic

MUED 265

August 26, 2019

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Music is a force that I do not understand. The way it draws people in and mesmerizes them. The

way that it brings people together. When you become an educator you have to use your tools to help your

students. For a band director that tool is music. They are a leader, a teacher and overall somebody who

has your best interest at heart. Through personal experience of 8 years in 3 different public school band

rooms in 2 different states, I have developed what I think music education should be and the way I will

teach it. I want to dispute the idea that music in public schools is solely for the use of social functions. I

am convinced that process is the way to experience music rather than through performance. I say this

because band directors have been in your seat and gone through the process and they are the people who

are still learning everyday in order to make music education in schools the best that it can be. That does

not stop after a performance, it is forever ongoing. Having music in schools is so incredibly important in

so many ways but the way it is taught is different everywhere. Is there one universal way to teach music?

I do not know but what I do know is how I want it to be.

There are a lot of different theories on how to teach, some I relate to and some I do not. A theory

I strongly connect with is Keith Swanwicks. In His book, Teaching Music Musically, he states “Music

Education in studios, schools and colleges cannot be confined to supporting a single social

function.”(Swanwick pg. 35) The reason I personally relate to this method is because I do not believe

performance is everything. Teaching students to play solely for one performance or for a specific

audience does not allow them to fully appreciate the opportunity to learn and play. Music is personal and

a different experience to everyone and if you were to only play to make a superior at a competition, you

are removing the life from the music as well as setting your students up for the short term reward of

winning. Even with marching band music or jazz gigs the goal is to entertain the audience with tunes they

know. You have to find a way to bring meaning to the music and make it come alive. “In order to make its

self respectable and to become appropriately institutionally recognized, popular music has to be modified,
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abstracted and analyzed to fit into classrooms, timetables and the aims of music education.”(Swanwick

pg. 33)1. This means you have to realize that every piece of music needs to have high expectations rather

than the purpose of putting on a public display. Teach kids the meaning of music not the rewards of it.

In my past experience I have seen things that I strongly agree with in the classroom, for instance,

a principle that I will always stand behind is picking music that the group needs rather than what they

want. Through personal experience I have learned so much through music that I highly disliked at first.

Sometimes you grow so much without even realizing, you just have to trust the process. On the other side

of process is the product. According to David Elliot in Music Matters he talks about the praxial

philosophy of music education. “Until musicers actualize or bring musical products to into being by

performance, improvising, conducting, listening or other ways of bringing a piece of music alive,

compositions and other kinds of musical products cannot convey musical meanings or create

opportunities for people to make musical meanings, or enjoy musical-affective experiences.” (Elliot pg

286) This is his way of saying until you perform a piece live you cannot find the meaning. I disagree with

this statement because the product is not always as you expect it to be. This way of going about music is

too uncertain. If you think about all the factors that are combined to make an experience then you will

understand. Nerves, location, audience and weather are all things that can affect your performance. Does

that mean if you have a poor performance you do not understand the music? No, I do not think so, but you

can still reflect over your process up to that point and acknowledge the growth you have made. If you

want to feel and experience ‘aesthetic education’2 then you have to experience the right process. A student

needs to be able to look back over their performance and feel accomplished and have a sense of

fulfillment rather than regret and bitterness over the fact that they did not get the “product”3 they intended.

Just because you do not achieve the results you want does not mean you wasted your time, which is a big

1
Swanwick, K. (2011). Teaching Music Musically. New York: Routledge. 33.
2
Mccarthy, Marie, and J. Scott Goble. Music Education Philosophy: Changing Times. 20.
3
Elliot, D. (1995). Music Matters: A new philosophy of music education. 286.
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lesson that students need to learn. I personally struggle with this which is why I want to make it a big

priority in my band. I want to enforce reflection over the “process” not just the product because that is

how you will reveal the growth you have made.

Music Education is important to have in schools. Sure music is fun and all but I think music

educators have a more important underlying role other than teaching music. Being in an ensemble teaches

you so much more than how to play notes and rhythms, that is if you have the right director. A good band

director will teach students how to be proficient at their instruments and how to make an ensemble sound

good. They will follow the Florida Bandmaster Association 4 rule book and have a good, solid program. A

great director will teach students how to work as a team, how to be a leader and how to be a person. Being

a great teacher is crucial to our society. Looking at the NAFME5 tips to be a successful band director, it

does not say anything about actual music, but it talks about being genuine and fair. I strongly agree with

this because being a director is about teaching morals and values, helping students understand their place

in the world and being a helping hand in their journey. That is the job of an educator, music or not. Sure

learning notes and rhythms is great but that is not why I want to teach music.

I do not want to be a good band director. I want to be a great one. I want my students to

understand discipline and perseverance, respect and responsibility, disappointment and accomplishment. I

know that not all of these are warm and fuzzy feelings but that is the point. The world is not a warm and

fuzzy place. You have to teach students that they have the ability to change the world. I strongly believe

that band is the best place to teach kids how to prepare for life in the real world. It is the director's job to

show students how to examine experiences and teach them to reflect and see how much progress they

have made. Being a great director means you can inspire students when they do not want to practice or

give them hope when they did not perform as well as they wanted. Being a music educator means you

4
“FBA Home.” FBA.
5
“MAC: Tips for Success.” NAMM Foundation.
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have to teach students the characteristics they need to be the best version of themselves. That is why

music education is so important to have in schools.

Bibliography

“About FBA: Handbook and Information.” FBA. Accessed August 29, 2019.

https://fba.flmusiced.org/about/handbook-information/.

Elliot, D. (1995). Music Matters: A new philosophy of music education. New York: Oxford

University Press.

“MAC: Tips for Success.” NAMM Foundation. Accessed August 26, 2019.

https://www.nammfoundation.org/EDUCATOR-RESOURCES/MAC-TIPS-SUCCESS.

Mccarthy, Marie, and J. Scott Goble. “Music Education Philosophy: Changing Times.”
Music Educators Journal 89, no. 1 (September 2002): 19–26.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3399880.

Swanwick, K. (2011). Teaching Music Musically. New York: Routledge.